AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.. Allergies why do you hurt me so? Easy Solutions For Allergies!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…… Allergies why do you hurt me so? I wake up puffy and snuffy and not at all ready to get up and go!! What can I do to make you mean allergies get up and go?? Oh how I don’t like these verminice allergies and if you are at all like me I bet you have been having some problems too! I found these great ideas in my “Women’s World” magazine that are easy and natural ways to help beat the allergies that plague you. Here it goes…..

-Soothe Sinuses With Stinging Nettle- You can get this herbal supplement at most health food stores and it is well worth it! Nettle reduces production of vile histamine up to 50% FASTER THAN CLARITIN AND ALLEGRA! Wow! Aim for 1,200 mg daily.

-Water, Water, Water… Drink It Up BabyCakes- Believe it or not, staying well hydrated helps 38% of women (sorry men) relieve allergy symptoms and we all know that water is great in general for helping keep that tummy from bloating and about everything else too!!!

-Achooooooo-Stop Sneezing With Green Tea (My Fav)-We already know that green tea is great for wellbeing and a flat tummy as well as possibly helping reduce blood sugar to reduce cravings for refined sugar and carbs but now….Sneezing!!! Green tea is packed with an antioxidant (EGCG) that blocks production of two key allergy-symptom triggers: histamine and immunoglobulin (the allergy goblin?-just kidding on an allergy goblin although it feels like a mean allergy goblin visits at night) Ideally drink 2 to 3 cups daily. I love to add lemon to my green tea and sometimes make a nice iced green tea with lemons and Stevia (natural sweetener).

-Perilla Will Killa The Inflammation-In as little as seven days the herb Perilla has been study-proven to shut down allergic reaction and symptoms!!!! Perilla dampens inflammation and destroys the rogue immune cells that trigger allergy attacks! Perilla can be found at your health food store in an oil capsule (Womens World says to look under brand names like Source Naturals and Life Extension and follow package directions for dosage).

Yoga ( Not Partying In A Toga) Will Help You Breathe Easier-One of my favorite bloggers Michele at http://manddraponisanimalrescue.typepad.com/serenity/2011/05/i-love-my-new-job.html is a big fan of yoga and an instructor of yoga so I’m sure she will love that yoga breathing techniques help ease stuffed-up nasal passages and reduce stress, which is proven to heighten your body’s allergic response. Now if I could only bend like her maybe I could do the yoga.

Okay, so I am heading to Whole Foods tonight to get more green tea, Nettle and Perilla and hopefully send these allergies packing!! Hope this helps!!

Heidi

Momma Mia! Happy Mother's Day!

It’s not always easy being a mom-like when you realize the kids have been quiet far too long and you discover pizza in the fish tank or shaving cream all over the desk and chairs… “art” the kids called it. And then there are the times when they don’t feel well and vomit all over the buggy, produce guy and produce department in Target and then the other one starts gagging and vomiting because she is grossed out at the first ones vomit and both are crying and screaming and you are standing there covered in vomit trying to console everyone. Oh and the guilt that you are never doing exactly as the books say a good mom should do and the fear you are somehow traumatizing them and dooming them forever because you don’t do just as they want and give them every single thing they ask for when they ask for it.

But…… the love, love, love when you come home after a long day and they run to you and say “yeahhhh Mommy’s home” or when you see them accomplish something with pride in their eyes or when they give you that sweet little kiss goodnight and they tell you that they love you. Somehow these moments make the vomit, pizza, shaving cream debacles fade into meaningless things. It’s never perfect but it is as close as perfect can be for me.

I just wanted to say Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandma’s, dad’s who are both moms and dads and to all the mom’s whose babies are their cats, dogs or other animals!!!

 Happy Mother’s Day!!

I saw this quote the other day and thought it was funny………


“If being a mother were easy then father’s would do it”. Golden Girls


All in good fun. Lol

My girls!!! My loves!

No more Misery on Monday, Tyrants on Tuesday, Witches on Wednesday, Tempers on Thursday or Feisty Fighting on Friday-Olive Oil & Prunes To Lift The Blues!

No more Misery on Monday, Tyrants on Tuesday, Witches on Wednesday, Tempers on Thursday or Feisty Fighting on Friday-Olive Oil & Prunes To Lift The Blues!



We all have those days when we feel a little anxiety or a little blue and I am a big believer in diet and exercise to help ward off these feelings! So, when I recently read about olive oil helping with the blues and dates (the fruit not the activity-lol) helping to relieve anxiety I knew I had to share this information!

Olive oil- I am a big fan of olive oil as it is (it is a great for your skin, heart and helps to keep the bad fats from being absorbed ) but now in a study of more than 12,0000 people , those who consumed at least 3 ½ tsp of olive oil daily were 30% less likely to suffer depression than those who ate none. Apparently the same mechanism in monounsaturated fats that reduces inflammation in arteries also reduces brain inflammation. This is important because brain inflammation triggers the release of cytokines, proteins that suppress your levels of fee-good neurotrans-mitters. So to make a long story short have some olive oil everyday and you may kick some of those blues away! I personally use olive oil in most things that I cook and even take a teaspoon before eating high carb foods to help block the bad fats. Go olive oil!

Date away anxiety-Ok, ok not the actual activity of dating but the delicious fruit dates! I love the natural sweetness of dates and now beyond them having one of the highest antioxidant contents of any dried fruit--- dates ease stress and unkink tense muscles. Dates contain an almost perfect one-to-one ratio of calcium and magnesium which work in harmony to calm the nervous system. A single handful of dates has more potassium (which regulates heartbeat and breathing rate) than an entire banana!!

Sooooooooooo…. Now you know two great and natural ways to help when you are singing the blues!! I have started eating more dates so hopefully I’m on the right track too!





Ref:Woman’s World 2011

Wordless Wednesday- My Favorite Place In The World!

Can you guess where this is?




“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay for awhile and we are never, ever the same.” Carole King (I think)

I think I know Why Forrest Gump Loved To Run-No, Really I Got It!

Run, Run, Run.......
Let’s not kid ourselves here-the reason my blog has the word wannabe in it is because I want to be a health nut-well sort of. I want to be healthy, eat all the right things, be toned, exercise and enjoy doing all these things. Now for the reality- I love Cheetos, chocolate, pizza, and diet Coke with a passion! I despise exercise most of the time and cooking healthy things well nope not really. Sure I make an effort to do the right things to be healthy but still seem to fall into the bag of Cheetos and box of my beloved chocolates. So writing this blog is my way of putting my best foot forward to be the health nut that I wannabe.

Now saying all these things I will tell you that I have fallen in love!!! Yes euphorically, breathtakingly in love with……… RUNNING! OMIGOODNESS! Me-Heidi loves to run-to actually get up early with those “crazy” people who love to run and run fast! To make a point almost everyday to run several miles!! I don’t know and am not going to question why or how but I really love it! I love feeling the sweat from a hard workout, the pride in that I got off my booty and did something positive, the euphoria after I have finished a long and difficult run. The reason this is all so amazing is because as I said above, I despise exercise! Have despised it my entire life. I did it because I felt that I had to but I NEVER, EVER enjoyed it!!! Please! I used to look at those avid runners like what the he _ _!!! Why would ANYONE ever subject themselves to that willingly? To me exercise has always been a form of torture forced upon one to keep their clothes from getting too tight. Now I run when I’m sad and I feel better, I run when I’m happy, I run when I’m stressed and the stress seems to melt away!! I run miles and miles and miles and on my days when I feel down I run really fast. Sometimes I have to laugh because the thought of me being an avid runner is pretty hysterical!

I am writing this to tell you that it can be done! Miracles can happen and to you out there like me who thought or think exercise is pure absolute insanity I tell you to think again. Find your niche whether it be walking, running, yoga, weights, gardening, whatever it is-find it!  Running has saved me from so many bad habits, bad clothes and stressful times.  I run it off! Physically and mentally you will feel like a new person!! FIND IT!  You will be glad you did!!! And as for the healthy eating-I’m working on it but one thing at a time. LOL!



Have a great day:)

Heidi

Memories on Music Monday-Colbie Caillait

Most of us have songs that instantly remind us of someone or something.. Here is one of mine....

Have a great day!

Fallin' For You.....

  Colbie Caillait

It Doesn’t Have To Be Bad For It To Be Good For You!! Chocolate, Caffeine, and Sleeping In!

It Doesn’t Have To Be Bad For It To Be Good For You!! Chocolate, Caffeine, and Sleeping In!


For most of my life I believed that if something was good for you then it had to taste awful, leave me feeling hungry, and send me to some horrific exercise regime that left me in the back of the class breathing hard and near dead. I can recall years and years of running (and hating every second), eating funky icky foods, trying every new diet, and even not eating all in a bid for that perfect body (there is no such thing). As I got older and did some research I learned that you can like something and it can still be good for you! Keep in mind that moderation is always the key I believe. Sure you can reach for a mini Snickers bar if you want just don’t reach for ten of them and justify it to yourself that well although you had ten they WERE minis (this is what I do and I do know better but the lure of the Snickers is powerful for me).

Here You Go….

-Sleep , sleep, sleep- People who sleep seven to eight hours nightly are twice as likely to reach a ripe old age as those who get less shuteye, according to a study out of the U.K.’s University of Warwick and University College London. When you don’t get enough sleep your body’s production of the appetite suppressing hormone leptin is disrupted- raising your risk of life-shortening obesity. It also triggers blood sugar imbalances that can lead to type Two diabetes. (re-Woman’s World).

-Chocolate-mmmmmmmm-Nibble on dark chocolate (really? Yesssss really!)- Dark chocolate has flavonoids, which destroy the free radicals that cause inflammation. Just two squares of a dark chocolate bar, two Hershey’s Kisses or a dozen semisweet chocolate chips cuts inflammation by 17%. This is great news because chocolate is DELICIOUS and you can help beat chronic inflammation which is behind many illnesses-including heart diseases, Alhzheimer’s and diabetes!!!! Chocolate lovers have also been known to have lower levels of stress hormones in their bloodstream. Say hello to chocolate (remember, in moderation-hard for me but a must).

Caffeine- "Caffeine is starting to get attention because it may prevent skin cancer as discussed in the February issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Consumption of caffeine has been shown to be associated with lower incidences of nonmelanoma skin cancers in several epidemiological studies (Jacobsen et al., 1986; Hakim et al., 2000; Abel et al., 2007; Rees et al., 2007). However, too much caffeine can actually pack on the pounds so keeping it to 16 oz of diet soda with caffeine or 1 or 2 cups of coffee is probably best. One study of over 93,000 women showed that drinking coffee decreased their risk of skin cancer. Other research suggests that both oral and topical caffeine may offer powerful anticarcinogenic benefits."

And………….

According to Supermodel Elle McPherson’s trainer James Duigan author of, “The Clean and Lean Diet” exercise is really not about killing yourself everyday for hours (thank heavens) Instead - “Duigan's motto is work smarter, not harder.Understanding that many people have busy lives, he has devised an eight-minute workout of resistance exercises to be done twice a day. This can be extended with a walk or by attempting the more advanced workouts in the book.

“You should never really be working out for longer than an hour. Any longer than that and you haven't been working smart enough in that hour and you're really just putting your body under unnecessary stress,” he said.

“I'd say if you can do a good metabolic resistance circuit for about 10 minutes in the morning, which is an achievable amount of time, and then 10 minutes in the afternoon or evening, then you'll see good results with your physique.”

And as I have said above, it is really about moderation and balancing so that you can enjoy the things you love and be healthy. I say this as I am eyeing the bowl of fun size Snickers across from me. If only will power came a little easier to me.